Live Review: Farmer & The Owl Festival

After a successful debut last year, Farmer & The Owl Festival returned to MacCabe Park, blessing Wollongong punters with an eclectic line-up curated by artists under the Farmer & Owl label, including Hockey Dad, Bad//Dreems, Totally Unicorn, The Pinheads, TEES and Tropical Strength.

The care and detail that went into curating this festival was immediately felt with the presence of one of the festival’s few solo performers, Hand Habits. Having played as a studio musician with a series of high profile bands, Meg Duffy graced the main stage with nothing but their melancholic vocals and ringing guitar chords. There was a lot of aggressively loud bands playing at the same time but in terms of quality, Duffy was easily the standout. The variety of unique talent on offer could be felt at all three stages. 

Hand Habits @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

The Let Burelli Be Stage, the smallest of the three, served as a hub for raw, hard-hitting rock bands, where the drums blasted off the walls, the guitar riffs were heavy and lyrics took a backseat unless they were being shouted at full force. 

Over at the So Tyred Stage (named to acknowledge the tyre store this stage shared a wall with), Horror My Friend were loose cannons that entertained us with their high-octane energy and between-song banter. They had a great time up on stage and so did we watching them, even when they were all just taking turns trying — and failing — to kick up a bucket hat from the floor onto each other’s heads. 

Horror My Friend @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Keeping this frenetic pace going was RMFC, who welcomed some hectic moshing to the Let Burelli Be Stage. A lot of the bands who played here seemed hellbent on belting out their songs as quickly as possible, as if they were competing to see who could play the fastest, and these guys were no exception.

RMFC @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Someone who would’ve lost that race would’ve been Jack Ladder, who established a bluesy, easy-going atmosphere that contrasted nicely to other acts. Ladder crooned and swayed with the crowd and had us hooked for the entirety of his residency on the main stage. 

Jack Ladder @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

It was another moment of contrast when American singer Weyes Blood (real name Natalie Mering) took to the main stage. There were group vocal harmonies that mesmerised us and a transportive sound that made this set the spiritual successor to last year’s headliner, Beach House. With only time for one song left, Mering threw it to the audience: “We can do Movies or Wild Time, which one is it gonna be?” It was a resounding "Movies" from the crowd and it turned out to be an awe-inspiring slow-burn that built to a satisfying crescendo. 

Weyes Blood @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

New Zealand’s Miss June put on a proper rock show in the sense that zero fucks were given, and anything could (and would) go wrong. The opening number saw them persist through a broken guitar string and their following song had to be restarted halfway through. Lead singer Annabel Liddell also lost her sunnies and bandana from rocking so hard during the opener. The group persevered and put on a hell of a show without sweating the small stuff. 

Miss June @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

The Murlocs drew the first sizeable crowd of the day at the main stage and it was easy to see why. They have a very charismatic frontman in Ambrose Kenny-Smith, and performed a perfect blend of punchy, energetic tracks and slower groovier numbers to mix things up. 

The Murlocs @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Punters then swarmed to the So Tyred Stage for Press Club’s killer set. “I keep on pretending that I’m getting better,” repeated vocalist Natalie Foster at the end of their explosive tune, Separate Houses, each time her vocals bursting with a fiery blend of anger and passion. The rest of their time on stage was similarly explosive and bolstered by a well-crafted sound that gelled well with their loyal fans. 

Press Club @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Walking onto the main stage to the Rocky theme were three guys who have probably spent more time wagging PE classes than they have inside a boxing ring, The Chats. It only took three songs for the mosh pit to open wide as bodies ran into each other at full steam. Up on stage, lead singer Eamon Sandwith said anything and everything provocative from, “This next song is about doing pingers”, to singing, “I'm the best person in the world/Everybody else looks like a paedo.” These guys had no filter and the entertainment value they brought to the festival was huge. Their hit track Pub Feed felt like a euphoric anthem thanks to the raucous crowd.

The Chats @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

The So Tyred Stage benefited from having a hill that overlooked the stage from afar, providing a suitable alternative for punters who wanted to kick back and watch Mom Jeans. Those up close rocked their heads passionately as the Californian rock group played their angsty tunes.

Mom Jeans @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Psychedelic rock prodigies Lazy Eyes are ones to keep an eye on. They commanded a seemingly effortless control over their tempo, speeding up and slowing down as a unit whenever it suited them — something you immediately appreciated when you had just heard several bands attempt to play at x4 speed. They had a sound reminiscent of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard but experimented to truly make it their own. 

Lazy Eyes @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Seeing British duo Sleaford Mods perform live was a one-of-a-kind experience. Very minimalistic, vocalist Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn took up very little of the main stage. Fearn’s sole duty was to press play at the start of each song on a laptop that might as well of been sitting on the floor, while Williamson shouted verses over rudimentary beats. Williamson never faced the audience — instead, he spent the entirety of the set facing the right-hand side of the stage, which, out of context, made it appear as though he was yelling all of his lyrics to an unseen person just offstage. None of this is to insult or besmirch Sleaford Mods, who drew in and maintained quite a sizeable and vocal audience, but from the perspective of someone who just happened to stumble by their set, it was an outlandish and unintentionally hilarious performance to behold. 

Sleaford Mods @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Some much-needed hip hop music surfaced back over at the So Tyred Stage, courtesy of American rapper Wiki. He slowly won over his audience as the night began to settle in and a larger crowd assembled, which helped hype up the energetic wordsmith.

Rebel Yell’s dark and unique take on electronic music was another welcomed outlier that served as a great precursor to the headlining electronic dance act to come. The Brisbane artist tore it up on the Let Burelli Be Stage and kicked off the night proper. 

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats were a brilliant throwback to a bygone era of stoner-rock bands who hurled hellish guitar riffs at their audiences that threatened to send them to their doom. The English band played relentlessly and bopped their long-haired heads together in perfect unison. There was plenty of gothic and satanic imagery being played on a vintage-looking video above them that really made us feel the end may be near. 

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

“This is my first show in Australia in over two years,” announced Alex Cameron and what a welcome return it was. The flamboyant singer soothed us with his vocals and danced, almost exclusively with his hips, for nearly a full hour. The only time he stopped was when beloved business partner and saxophonist, Roy Molloy, stood alone on stage to give us a very detailed four-star (out of five) review of the chair he’d been sitting on. This was well-received by the crowd and proved to be a unique and hilarious way to give the other band members a break. 

Alex Cameron @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Headliners Hot Chip filled their set to the brim with danceable bangers that were excellently paired with a stunning light show. All seven performers were focussed on their instruments but still managed to dance the night away with the rest of us. There was little crowd interaction needed, with fan favourites like Huarache Lights and Over And Over, as well as new songs like Hungry Child, creating a fun and vibrant mood on their own. It was nonstop dancing from start to finish and proved to be an immensely satisfying way to cap off the day.

Hot Chip @ Farmer & The Owl Festival. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

While this festival still hides in the shadow of its older sibling, Yours & Owls Festival, the love and effort that is wholeheartedly injected into this day is unrivalled and it may be only a matter of time before it’s considered a festival-goer’s top priority.